Bubbles, those dreaded down times between portions of flight school! While there are still some bubbles, many have been reduced and nearly eliminated. Students used to take 18 to 24 months to complete their training and might wait in bubbles for months between portions of training. Now, nearly all flight students are done in less than 18 months with many being done in just over a year. The longest bubbles at this time are about a month in length. So, what should students expect during a bubble? The Army tries to make use of their soldiers and students can expect some taskings. Most are sent to either Funeral Detail or the SERE Detail. A majority of the Funeral Detail is taken care of by the warrants who gained prior experience between WOCS and BOLC. That leaves a lot of the LTs for the SERE Detail. Students who are assigned to Funeral Detail will spend a couple hours a day practicing (after their initial couple days of learning what to do) and will go anywhere within a three or four state region around Alabama to provide honors at funerals as they are needed. There is usually lots of time off but funerals kind of have a way of being unplanned. The SERE Detail students will have a set schedule, but it will be all hours of the day; SERE does run 24/7 after all. For both details, there is time off, however, getting a pass can be a nightmare as it has to be approved by the detail and by B Co. Pass or no pass, there is plenty of free time to study or make up some time with the family you’ve hardly seen during the blocks of training.
